About Darrell Kindley

Darrell Kindley is an experienced executive in the aerospace industry with varied interests outside of his career

Darrell Kindley is an experienced executive in the aerospace industry and adrenaline enthusiast from Fort Worth, Texas. Darrell has always been intrigued with the notion of creating and traveling at high speeds from a very young age. After his completion of an undergraduate degree from Devry University, he received an MBA in Engineering Management from the University of Dallas. Kindley then began working in aviation after he landed a position as a Test Engineer at Singer Link Flight Simulation in Houston, Texas. While at Singer Link, Kindley worked on various flight simulators including the AH-1T helicopter and the F-16 Trainer Flight Simulator (TFS). He was responsible for integrating and troubleshooting both hardware and software components of the simulator. He also supported the development and execution of customer acceptance test procedures.

After two successful years at Singer Link, Darrell took his talents to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics where he retired as a senior manager after 18 years. At Lockheed Martin, he headed a team of thirty plus to design, develop and integrate various avionic systems onto the F-111, F-16 and F-35. While at Lockheed Martin, Darrell developed a passion for drag boat racing. This comes to no surprise considering his love for aeronautics and speed, and also because his father used to be a drag boat racer in the late 1990’s.

Darrell’s father raced from 1994-1999 as a professional driver. After seeing the success of his father, and the excitement of racing, Darrell decided to begin racing professionally from 2006 thru 2011. At the peak of his professional racing career he consistently landed at the top of the leader board on the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series (LODBRS). He explained, “During the height of my career I would travel to California, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia competing in races and tournaments. Racing at such great speeds was always exhilarating, yet frightening at the same time.” Racing in the Pro Modified division, Darrell would cover the liquid quarter mile in 7.0 seconds at speeds in excess of 180MPH. For anyone who understands speeds, traveling at such high speeds is dangerous, but especially dangerous when on a lightweight boat gliding, cutting through the waves. After six seasons and roughly 75 races, Darrell sold his boat and equipment in 2011 to become a spectator of the sport.

Although Kindley is still involved in the sport of drag boat racing, he has made the decision not to get back into racing as a driver. He was recently offered to be the pilot on new Top Fuel Hydro race team, but politely turned it down due to the risk and a desire to stay close to home and focus on business matters. Darrell grew up bird hunting, fishing and playing golf, all of which take up most of his free time now. He enjoys playing golf courses all over the world and shooting at those pesky feral hogs so prevalent in Texas and Oklahoma.